Chevrolet C10 Daily Driver - Working For The Weekend

Well as of three weeks ago, the C10 project has officially made the transition over to daily driver status and I gotta say, I’m quite enjoying it. Being able to once again work on my daily driver, making constant improvements both aesthetically and mechanically, is pretty self gratifying. Of course the thumbs up are always cool, but the fact that I can remember what it was like to drive the truck just a few short months ago in its stock guise and compare it to the way it feels now with all the upgrades made, really makes me appreciate it even more. Not only for the amount of elbow grease and knuckle blood I’ve shed getting it to this point, but also the fact that it’s even possible to take an essentially dilapidated truck with absolutely zero modern conveyances and slowly add each item while still maintaining a somewhat usable work horse.

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But what I’ve really enjoyed is the fact that I can have fun driving my little hot rod pickup around and still get jobs done around the house and shop. Trips to the lumber yard, hauling junk to the dump, or transporting engines back and forth from one shop to the other is something you just can’t do in any other classic car. Sorry to those Camaro and Chevelle guys, but once you’ve vacuumed your door panels and power parked your Copo muscle car, that’s about the end of it in terms of usefulness that you’re gonna get out of any of those cars. Save for the burnout after the burger run cruise wraps up. But for us truck guys, we can still feather dust our dash and hot shine our tires with the best of y’all and at the end of the day, go out and pick up a load of drywall while you’ll still be trying to make room for those silly fold-up chairs. But to each his own, I wouldn’t mind a ’67 Nova someday …

Anyhow, I took a trip recently up to Bakersfield with my buddy from the Netherlands, Maurice Van Den Tillard (check out his blog at www.dutchman-photos.com), to check out the Hot Rod Reunion at Famoso Raceway. You can check out some of the highlights from the show further on in this issue but I was really struck by the amount of classic trucks that were being used for all kinds of tasks around the track. From pushing race cars through the pits to the starting line, to hauling fuel, to hawking parts in the swap meet, there must have been a hundred trucks working throughout the weekend and looking good while at it! That night after the cacklefest, we headed east to be on the dry lakebed of El Mirage bright and early Sunday morning for the Southern California Timing Association’s land speed racing meet. Once there, we were greeted by another bunch of old trucks being used just as they always have been.

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It got me thinking about the present state of my truck and how hard it is to stop at some point and say “enough’s enough.” Sure I’d like to make it as nice as possible, but there’s got to be a parting line where it stops becoming a work truck and breaks the barrier into *cough* show car. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to have an immaculate truck, but at this time, for this project, it just seems a bit pointless to take it to that level.

Instead, I’ve decided to concentrate on just cleaning up the loose ends, making the cab as comfortable as possible, and having fun. That’s what it’s all about isn’t it?!

With that said, I’ve got a couple neat stories coming up that I think anybody with a classic truck will appreciate when it comes to enjoying their ride. One is the installation of air conditioning. I’ve never owned a car that had working A/C so this is a huge deal to me when it comes to creature comforts. The other is the installation of a high-end stereo system that won’t break the bank and sounds better than any OEM system out there. This was another must have when it came to making my truck a bit more contemporary. The third is the addition of a power steering system. This just really spoils you!

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This month, I’m tackling the first half of the A/C install as well as walking through the front end upgrades that I made to the C10. Next month, we’ll wrap up the A/C install and move on to the rear suspension, with the aforementioned stereo, steering, and more to come! Stay tuned and keep on truckin’! CCT